Toko a No No

by gigi on June 18, 2007

Jenkins and I were looking for a cheap and quick place to go on Saturday night and settled on Toko Restaurant. Nestled in a quiet neighborhood around 7th and Ontario, I had always driven past this place and had no idea it was a restaurant. We had heard that it had an extensive list of Asian dishes and herbal teas and thought it would be worth a try. Entering the restaurant, we found that it was very busy and had a queue of people waiting to be seated.

By this time, we were quite hungry and were eager to pick something out. We had heard that their specialty was noodles and we selected a Malaysian fried noodle dish and honey garlic spareribs. We were used to fast and prompt service in most Asian restaurants but for some reason, it was quite a while until our food finally arrived.

The Malaysian fried noodle was ok but tasted nothing like the authentic fried noodles I had tasted at Banana Leaf. You could tell that it was some kind of Asian dish, but I wouldn’t necessarily point my finger at Malaysian.

Next was the honey garlic spareribs. Normally, this is one of my favourite dishes to order but the the ribs weren’t even spareribs and were heavily fried. The taste of honey lingered in your mouth lingered long after you had swallowed.

We had the option of ordering these dishes without MSG but we forgot to mention that to the server. As a result, I couldn’t get enough tea to quench my thirst as I ate. I’m not sure I will be coming back to this place, at least in the near future. The quality and value of the food is just not up to par with most casual Chinese or Asian eateries. As extensive as the menu was, it wasn’t that big when compared to my favourite Chinese restaurants. However, I can still see why it was so busy. The staff was friendly, the place was clean and trendy, and the location was in a nice and quiet neighborhood. Despite this, it just wasn’t the place for me.